To make sure their classes and control configurations were ready for the showdown, each teams got a chance to warm-up against some of the NVIDIA staff members.

During breaks, Tom Peterson had a truckload of prizes to give out- including GeForce GTX 660s by PNY, Hidden speakers and USB thumbdrives.

The Teams

Team Stanford: Tony, Joel, Kendrick and RobertStrategy: Adapting to the situation and constant dropshotting

Team Cal: Ralph, Daniel, Avi and BillStrategy: Employing the buddy system and taking advantage of SMG hipfire

The Round-by-Round Breakdown

Round 1: Hijacked

Both teams started out playing extremely cautious, trying to size up their opponent's strategy and skill. The score remained close as both squads held control of their own side of the yacht. Eventually, Cal was able handle the spawn flips and pulled away as Stanford repeatedly rushed to break Cal’s defensive positions.

Cal 1 - Stanford 0

Round 2: Raid

This map of a Hollywood Hills mansion proved to be trouble for Stanford again, as Cal jumped to an early lead. The Cal players maintained map control throughout the entire match as they pinned down Stanford near the garage spawn.

Cal 2 - Stanford 0

Round 3: Plaza

Down 0-2, Stanford must have talked strategy during the break and it definitely showed in their gameplay. The Stanford squad came out hard and furious to bring their home team audience back into the game. The crowd cheered loudly when Stanford player Tony hit a 7-streak with his laser-equipped PDW to give Stanford a 25-20 lead. Bill, Cal’s top scorer from the first 2 matches, brought the match back to a 30-30 tie, prompting 'Kill Bill' chants from the crowd. Unfortunately, the heckling didn’t affect his performance as his care package Death Machine easily mowed down the opposition to close Round 3 out at 75-54.

Cal 3 - Stanford 0

Round 4: Slums

Facing elimination, Stanford had their backs to the wall from the start. Bill and his trusty SCAR picked up 4 quick kills and it surely would have been more if it wasn't for him eating a well-placed Stanford bouncing betty. The game continued in Cal’s favor as Avi punctuated the win with a 13-kill streak from his suppressed PDW capped with an entire squad takeout from a Hellstorm. 75-41 Cal. Game. Set. Match.

Cal takes the match in decisive fashion with the 4-0 sweep.

The Presentation of Prizes

Stanford received $6000 worth of computer hardware for their Computer Science department.

The victors were able bring home $12000 in GeForce powered equipment.

To close out the night, the two squads decided to play a little Sticks & Stones Hardpoint (combat axes, ballistic knives and assault shields only) on Hijacked for laughs. Stanford earned back a little respectability by dominating the highly entertaining exhibition.

Big thanks to Cal and Stanford for participating and making the first Rivalries match a success. Now on to our next match - USC vs. UCLA.